Kaur’s momentum hasn’t slowed with her second book,The Sun and Her Flowers.
1 on theTimes’paperback fiction best-seller list on Oct. 22.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Have you always thought of your poetry as performance-first?
Credit: Baljit Singh; Andrews McMeel
Or is it the words on the page that come first?
RUPI KAUR:Performance first.
I didn’t know it was called performance poetry.
I didn’t know it was called spoken word.
I did that for a few years until I saw a TED Talk Sarah Kay did.
Okay, now I get it."
Then I experimented for many years because things weren’t sticking.
And that’s when I realized that spoken word poetry comes to life onstage.
So I was figuring out, “Okay well, what’s the issue here?
What can I create so the message isn’t lost?”
And I was like, “What if I pick gems out of these pieces?
Like, what are the parts in this that really kick my gut?”
So that’s when I think I developed that direct style.
And if I haven’t posted them, it’s because I’m very embarrassed.
This is not the 2017 version of me."
But going to the new book, I don’t know.
It’s difficult to share something like “Broken English” online.
It’s something that I think the West could read wrong if not given the right context.
How did your experience writingThe Sun and Her Flowersdiffer fromMilk and Honey?
Because all of the readers online were like, “Where can I purchase your book?”
For a long time, it debilitated me a lot.
Nothing that I wrote was good enough.
I’d start writing then be like, “Nope.
This is sh.”
You get very political inThe Sun and Her Flowers.
Yeah, and I didn’t even want to get political!
Originally, the concept ofThe Sun and Her Flowerswas different.
But I couldn’t help it.
I was in the States from January to April, so naturally…
Oh, the mood wasgreathere!
Are those the chapters that have a lot of poetry about refugees?
With the platform you have now, do you feel an obligation to cover political issues?
Because I feel like, first of all, I can’t cover every issue.
And second, I feel like I cover a lot.
I was covering so many issues that I’m like, “Okay.
I don’t have to cover everything.
My job is to do what comes to me naturally.”
I can’t imagine the pressure.
Everybody will be like, “Can you write about this?
Figure it out, write a piece!”
And that’s why I don’t do commissions.
Is there one line or one poem that gets quoted back to you more than any of the others?
There’s a few.
[Whispers]I don’t have it memorized.
I’m so fascinated by the Instagram thing, as everybody is.
But what do you think about this whole Instagram poetry phenomenon as a whole?
Why is it resonating with people?
That’s a big question.
I think that it’s resonating with people because…
I mean, why would it not?
So this poetry on this medium which we’re always plugged into is almost like looking into a mirror.
And I think that’s absolutely incredible.
Have you been a gateway for a lot of people to get into poetry?
They do say that.
Somebody said to me last night, “You’re my gateway drug to poetry.”
I was like, “That’s fantastic.”
Who do you recommend when someone says they want to read more poetry?
I always recommend Kahlil Gibran, Sharon Olds, who’s my absolute favorite, and Sylvia Plath.
Who’s your most surprising Instagram follower?
Have you spoken to him?
He tweeted and was like, “This is what I’m doing, and I love you.”
And I was like, “I love you too.”
What is it like to receive all that?
You start to doubt yourself a little bit.
You’re like, “Okay, this is not a topic that I should shy away from.
Ishouldwrite about this a lot more because I can, and I’m allowed to.”
But at one point, I think my full-time jobbecameresponding to these emails.
I feel like you should probably get a degree in therapy or something.
Yeah, and that’s the thing.
Here are the hotlines or resources to go to."
And you’re like, “Okay, but why am I sad?
Because I feel like x, y, and z has happened, but it hasn’t.”
Do you ever want to take months away from the internet?
Of course I do.
I don’t have social media on my phone, which is so nice.
It’s like, a new way of living now which is so necessary.
I’m even I don’t know if I should tell you this.
I’m even thinking of getting a flip phone.
I think about that all the time!
Now I’ve decided that for the third book, I’ll do even more isolation.
There’s so much noise, and my mind can’t rest.
I was like, “Oh my gosh, that’s amazing,” so I commented on that.
Tell me more about that.
For example, I get the most love online for love poems and heartache.
That’s clearly what’s going to sell the most books, and that’s what people love."
They would compare likes and shares for a certain piece versus one about sexual violence.
And that was really challenging.
I was like, “Oh no!”
because obviously I want to put food on my table.
So then, should I not do that?
So originally, I was writing about a lot of tougher issues.
What matters is how deeply something touches a person.
Do you always want to write poetry or would you consider writing something else for your third book?
For some reason, I like to think in threes.
So three collections of poetry makes me feel at peace.
And then I’m working on short stories and screenwriting and songs all at the same time.
But I don’t know which one of those comes out first.
